Investments in smart grid, battery storage and efficiency companies globally dropped 76.4 per cent to $102 million in the quarter ended September 2016 from $443 million investments made in the previous quarter (Apr-June 2016), according to a latest report by Mercom Capital Group, a clean energy consultancy.ETEnergyWorld | October 26, 2016, 17:22 IST

According to Venture Intelligence, the latest numbers take PE investments in the first 9 months of 2013 to $5,059 million through 281 investments.NEW DELHI: Investments in smart grid, battery storage and efficiency companies globally dropped 76.4 per cent to $102 million in the quarter ended September 2016 from $443 million investments made in the previous quarter (Apr-June 2016), according to a latest report by Mercom Capital Group, a clean energy consultancy.

Third quarter funding has dropped by 79.3 per cent as compared to the corresponding quarter last year when $ 493 was gathered in investments. Mercom said in its report the top funded company was Ecobeean -- an efficiency firm which manufactures Wi-Fi-enabled smart thermostat – that raised $35 million from Amazon Alexa Fund.

Other notable investments were Skeleton Technologies raising $14.5 million from FirstFloor Capital and Sense attracting $ 14million from Shell Technology Ventures. Mercom in its report titled “Funding and Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Activity for Smart Grid, Battery Storage and Energy Efficiency Sectors” covered specific details of the three sub-sectors.

Smart Grid

Venture capital (VC) funding for smart grid companies was around $11 million in the third quarter of 2016 compared to $81 million in the same period in 2015. Also, smart grid companies raised $222 million in the second quarter 2016.

Battery Storage

Investments in battery storage companies declined sharply to $30 million compared to $96 million in the same period in 2015. Battery storage companies had earlier raised $125 million in Q2 2016. Since 2013, $1.1 billion has been raised in this sector, Mercom said.

Efficiency

Similarly, investments in energy efficiency technology companies fell again this quarter with $61 million raised compared to $86 million in Q2 2016. On a year-on-year comparison, efficiency companies in the third quarter 2015 collected a much higher $316 million.

Seventeen investors participated in Energy Efficiency VC deals in the quarter as compared to 18 in the previous quarter.